Character mods

[EvilEngine]

The errors I can find are;



...
Log: Family Asset Package Loaded: CH_ULA_SOLDIER
Error: Character creation package 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER' doesn't have ServerSideOnly flag set. Set this using the 'SetPackageFlags' commandlet.
Log: CONSTRUCTIONING: LoadFamilyAsset (TWIM) Took: 1.25 secs
ScriptLog: CUSTOMCHAR Start: UTPlayerReplicationInfo_2 Player VRed
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 0
Log: No Textures Found For: HEAD Texture: 1
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 1
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 2
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 3
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 4
Log: StartCustomCharMerge: 0.073254 ms initializing, 0.101779 ms texture streaming
ScriptLog: TIMEOUT: Streaming Textures for custom char. UTPlayerReplicationInfo_2
ScriptLog: CUSTOMCHAR Start: UTPlayerReplicationInfo_3 Sgt. Spurloch VBlue
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: Part Texture: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Materials.ULAreg_normal' (MIC: 'CH_ULA_SOLDIER.Material.ulareg_mic') in incorrect TEXTUREGROUP (0)
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 0
Log: No Textures Found For: HEAD Texture: 1
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 1
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 2
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 3
Log: No Textures Found For: BODY Texture: 4
...


There do seem to be material errors, but why would this result in the wrong model being loaded? Also, got a link for that tut? I can't seem to navigate to it fromth e site link in your signature.

Make the LOD for the normal maps be "character_normalmap".
Thats why your model isnt working. The specular should be "character_specular" and the color or diffuse should be just "character".

Right click the texture and you will see the LOD settings. No need to reimport.

[geodav]

sorry to say but that is stated in my tutorial, check the web site, as its been slightly updated

[Legendary_Lee]

"Custom faction support is coming in the next patch."

Does this means we can have our very own physics asset, animation asset, custom UVW/Materials and all that? :eek:

Yesssss.. finally! Now I can sit back and wait for the next patch instead of trying to hack it myself..

[geodav]

yep that was the best news this year ;)

[genZ]

cant wait :D

[Kurylo3D]

any idea when the next patch will be?

[Discmage]

Has there been any mention of exactly what they mean by these additions? I mean the custom elements need a lot of work from what I gather.

For example the glow, the texture restrictions (area limitations on UVW Maps), the custom faction element, and even the fact that people might not want a 'faction'...although I assume they will probably just make a faction dedicated to custom characters.

Another thing I am interested in is being able to change the names of the body parts of the custom stuff. I might want to change clothes rather than body parts, and it would be much better having a label saying Clothes rather than other things.

I can't think of anything else...but I'm sure there is more. Is there a custom character mod patch request thread somewhere? Maybe we should start one?

[Legendary_Lee]

Hey Discmage, long time no see. Yeah I agree with you on all the things you mentioned. Also for a proper way to have a character in one or two meshes instead of different body parts without having to hack it like Shakeno's way. I am hoping they will have a more user friendly structure to properly show that everything shows up right in game.

[Discmage]

Yeah, good to be back. Have had a REALLY interesting few weeks! First thailand/malaysia/borneo, then a infected leg, a move of house and loss of a job (while in thailand no less!

However things are slowly getting back together and I'll be getting back onto my marine soon.

I might start a new thread in regards to what we character modders would like in the update. A new thread might get more attention as it is more specific. Here's hoping :) Could everyone put there two cents in as I think the character modding thing is a quite underlooked thing and should be made as easy as everything else seems to be. The other thing is you guys have been plugging at this for a few more weeks than I have and I might have missed stuff.

[Shakeno]

Yeah, good to be back. Have had a REALLY interesting few weeks! First thailand/malaysia/borneo, then a infected leg, a move of house and loss of a job (while in thailand no less!

However things are slowly getting back together and I'll be getting back onto my marine soon.

I might start a new thread in regards to what we character modders would like in the update. A new thread might get more attention as it is more specific. Here's hoping :) Could everyone put there two cents in as I think the character modding thing is a quite underlooked thing and should be made as easy as everything else seems to be. The other thing is you guys have been plugging at this for a few more weeks than I have and I might have missed stuff.

Ewww... what a luck... loss of job combined with leg infection... (you should get with you some Big Keg O' Heals at least ;))

About the character mod thing... I think we should be able to set the main options in the INI files... at least... the main options, so we wouldn't need to code stuff, nor use custom packages... I wonder how it will come when somebody does not have your playermodel... do you even see yourself as the ironguard? also, about that... will it be fixed in the next patch? I mean... if a player joins after you in a game, you see him as the iron guard guy... "YOU''L FEEL DAH IMPACT IN ANY MEENEET"

[Mandinga]

Has anyone experimented with facial morph targets for this game? I've got a full mouth done so I was wondering how the morph target workflow would fit into this game.

any thoughts?

[Discmage]

I think it uses something similar to the very underused system in UT2004. I forget what it was called though. FaceFX I think? but I could be wrong on that. I recall seeing a folder somewhere in the UT3 directories that had a help file looking at this though. So maybe look into that? I`m not at home so I can`t point it out directly.

[Shakeno]

Has anyone experimented with facial morph targets for this game? I've got a full mouth done so I was wondering how the morph target workflow would fit into this game.

any thoughts?

I have no idea about how it works, but it would be really useful for my model, since his eyes and mouth... eeer... muzzle, are HUGE, so when killed, he must close his eyes, or when standing he must be able to blink! (My model has full facial support with a bone-rigging system, so it is easy, not hard vertex modification tricks)

[geodav]

its called FaceFX(UT3) was Impersonator(UT2004) http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=384581
uses a special rig for head/face control, guess we'll have to wait again till epic/oc3 release a rig for us to use, or you could try and build your own using the cinematic characters as an example

[Caravaggio]

wow it's getting to be a big thread.
Has anyone done research on changing headshots positions? I was trying to build around the krall skeleton but then I realized that my design had a more human head and would have to use the neck bone for the head points. But if the game has a box in front of it or needs polys attached to a bone called head, then that might cause a problem, or at the least wouldn't make the head disappear after one.

Any help appreciated.

[GeneralSoundwave]

Yo folks....

I learned how to use the MaterialInstConst by using my parent material as the MI_CH_Necris_FHead01_V01.

If you do that, you need to click the button at the top that reads "Show ALL Material Parameters"

Youll notice that there are a TON of textures that you need to replace. If you decide NOT to replace any single one of those textures and you decide to use the Placeholder texture instead, that is where you'll find your black blotches. Replace them all, or build your own Material Network that uses no placeholders.

If you build your own network, prepare for the following weirdness to happen:

1) The Characters Emissive Property Skyrockets, making the entire Mesh Glow. This ONLY happens in game. The shader will work fine in the Character Selection Menu (in game) and UEd3.
2) When you fight your custom character as a bot, when he kills you, HIS character portrait works properly.
3) When you fight your custom character as a bot, 1 of 2 things will happen: A) SOMTIMES he runs around the game with ABSOLUTELY NO animation, but the texture material will look fabulous. (The char will look like its running around in the DiVinci pose, but the AI still works and reacts and fires and whatnot). B) SOMETIMES the character will use ALL of the proper animations, but the textures will glow insanely just like the custom character that you are.

When the Material loads into a map, the map itself seems to neglect to load all of the properties of the shader. Whats funny about it is I know its loading something. My custom char has facial hair.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs19/f/2007/310/0/9/DictatorGeneral_MarcosOnesimo_by_GeneralSoundwave. jpg

When Viewing the character in-game, the opacity map for the hair actually works for it, enabling each hair to glow too. So, the custom shader does load... but only to a certain extent. I hope this info helps some of you guys out.

Ive been able to sucessfully import 4 custom head meshes and bring them into the game. each head has the same glowing issue because they all use the same parent material. Im going to test out a few more things to see if i can narrow down the Lightbulb blowout. BBS.

[thomasmahler]

Guys, all of this is really confusing. I read through all the 50 pages and I still don't know exactly what to do.

It's a shame that Epic has literally no docs about how to create custom characters for the UE3.0, except for licensees. That's quite a ***** for the whole mod community - Hope we'll get some guides on how to import models from our standard 3d packages into the UE3.0 soon enough, cause I'm sure that a lot of artists are really looking forward to getting their models into the engine.

That being said, I have a few questions. I'm currently working on a few models to bring my folio up-to-date and I thought it'd be cool to have in-game shots for a character. I want to get my 'Heavy Weapons Guy' imported:

http://www.thomasmahler.com/images/heavy09.jpg

So I have a few questions:

1) Do the models really have to be split up into seperate categories? I can't very well split an organic model into seperate parts (I can't split arm into upper and lower Arm, same with the legs), so that'd be quite limiting.

2) What Maya skeleton file's working? Which one's the one that I have to skin my model to? I'm using Maya mainly, I'd love to have some guide or whatever on how to get the model from Maya to the UE3.0.

3) Can we also import the models into Gears of War? I'd love to have my Heavy in Gears of War - and I already have the game :D

It's such a shame. The engine itself is capable of such cool stuff, but without docs, it takes way too much time to experiment, trying to get the data correctly from point a to point b. If I find a clever, streamlined way to do it, I'll do a video tut on this topic.

[Discmage]

Well the parts you need are less limiting than breaking the arms up. The head has seams around the clothes for example, the arms too could be seperated from the Shirt etc. If you look at the list of custom options they are a good basis for what 'parts' are needed. Some you can skip completely however. Things like goggles etc. Its just playing with the ini files in order to put in or take out the bits you want.

@ everybody modding characters so far: I have started the thread looking at requests for modding characters in the next patch. I doubt they will implement them as they probably already have their set goals...but you never know. Feel free to add your two cents seeing as you guys are the ones slugging away at it :)

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=599361

[GeneralSoundwave]

I would to address a concern that I have with noobs. I've been and read through every forum that I can get my hands on throught the web. 3D Buzz, Beyond Unreal, Here, and too many more to count. For the most part, I've seen that people overall are having a great time trying to figure out this stuff while Epic is doing their thing with tutorials.

However, I still feel that some of the people trying to learn this stuff are getting impatient. I implore you to wait it out a bit longer. We have to remember that modding on this engine is a privilege. Epic doesn't owe us anything. They don't owe us 1 tutorial... not one. Their entire goal is to get people more interested in the gaming community and create jobs. Don't think for a SECOND that Epics employees haven't surf through our posts.

Please PLEASE keep your attitudes in check. I had to learn about that the hard way. There is a correct way to complain and an incorrect way. I'm telling you from experience that there is truly a way to get yourself blacklisted from this industry. Please do not get impatient or insult the people who are WANTING to educate us.

If you feel like this post applies to you, don't take it to heart that I am out to crush your spirits. I know that even the impatient folks can have the correct intent and can be misunderstood. Please be encouraged not to stop searching for the answers to this engine. If you feel like this post doesn't apply to you, then lets keep going on and trying to figure out this stuff before Epic gives us the 'Strategy Guide.'

[thomasmahler]

Was that actually adressed to me? o_O

I don't know how you read my posting, I didn't mean that in an offending way towards Epic or whatever. I'm just wondering that they don't put up a Wiki or some of their guides for something that really is a community-based game.

No hard feelings, dude.

[Chicken_Pot_Pie]

I would to address a concern that I have with noobs. I've been and read through every forum that I can get my hands on throught the web. 3D Buzz, Beyond Unreal, Here, and too many more to count. For the most part, I've seen that people overall are having a great time trying to figure out this stuff while Epic is doing their thing with tutorials.

However, I still feel that some of the people trying to learn this stuff are getting impatient. I implore you to wait it out a bit longer. We have to remember that modding on this engine is a privilege. Epic doesn't owe us anything. They don't owe us 1 tutorial... not one. Their entire goal is to get people more interested in the gaming community and create jobs. Don't think for a SECOND that Epics employees haven't surf through our posts.

Please PLEASE keep your attitudes in check. I had to learn about that the hard way. There is a correct way to complain and an incorrect way. I'm telling you from experience that there is truly a way to get yourself blacklisted from this industry. Please do not get impatient or insult the people who are WANTING to educate us.

If you feel like this post applies to you, don't take it to heart that I am out to crush your spirits. I know that even the impatient folks can have the correct intent and can be misunderstood. Please be encouraged not to stop searching for the answers to this engine. If you feel like this post doesn't apply to you, then lets keep going on and trying to figure out this stuff before Epic gives us the 'Strategy Guide.'

I am just curious, where has it been said that EPIC is working on tutorials for us to use and what those tutorials are going to include. I am only cursious because I am on the fence right now about which engine I want to be spending a GREAT deal of my time on designing a mod for. I am seriously leaning towards the Cryengine. I have been a HUGE fan of the unreal series and its engines, however I see nothing but problems every time I come here to the forums. 50 pages of community members working by trial and error to get a custom character in the game and as far as I know not a single word from Epic on either the workflow or a possible tutorial in the future that will explain it.

I was messing around in the Sandbox 2 editor last night and I had a HUGE outdoor level with water, a jungle that included trees, bushes, grass, rocks, in less than 30 mins. All with the ability to pop in and out of game to see how it will work and play in real time.

basicaly unless epic proves to me atleast that its very conscerned about its community and that they are working on providing us with information explaining and showing us how to use this wonderful engine, I am just going to have to move on.:(

[Shakeno]

Was that actually adressed to me? o_O

I don't know how you read my posting, I didn't mean that in an offending way towards Epic or whatever. I'm just wondering that they don't put up a Wiki or some of their guides for something that really is a community-based game.

No hard feelings, dude.

Agree'd. We are not trying to offend anybody...

...although, I want to mention the free advertising which 3rd party developing stuff makes for Epic Games work. Many games have won a big fame for being able to be easily modded. I loved editing for Half-Life 2 because VALVe released a big bunch of tools for the game after only some weeks after being released (which nowadays are messed up though... I don't know why). After VALVe tools, people got motivated and started to release 3rd party stuff for people who didn't own XSI or didn't want to use it, like Cannonfodder's Half-Life 2 Tool, a bunch of tools for faceposing editing (VTA) and the Half-Life 2 model decompiler/importer/exporter, for 3D Studio.

[GeneralSoundwave]

thomasmahler... my statement was definitely not specifically geared towards you personally. I don't know you and I don't know if you're a noob or not. I was addressing the public in general, thats all. Some younger people just loose sight that not everything is instant-gratification based. No hard feelings either tough guy. :)

Chicken_Pot_Pie... I love the Crytech Engine. Theres nothing to about it not to love. I chose to learn the Unreal3 engine due to the massive amounts of licenses that Epics dished out. That means more jobs in the US. Thats my take on it. I also agree with you that this character process is a bit tedious.

As far as my knowledge is concerned about Epic... I can't tell you ABSOLUTELY that Epic will put out something themselves. However, I don't doubt.... not even for a moment, that 3D Buzz will. With the amount of revenue and easy learning that they provide, they'd shoot themself in the foot.

Take a look at Crytech. The first month that the game was released, there was nothing online about how to get characters working in their Parametric Animation System. They only had environment/level based things that you could do. Epic did the same thing. This games only been out for 2 months. Personally, I want to try it on my own and I have been for only 1 month.

Because no one has actually figured out how to get their characters in game, doesn't mean that it IS actually hard. We are only missing the technique. I have managed to create my own character from scratch and bring it into unreal using my own custom animations... not using the skeleton/anims that they've provided... (It was merely a test. I didn't create every single animation from scratch because its too time consuming. It doesn't work like a charm, but I'm still learning).

Don't loose hope in what you're doing because you don't understand right at this moment. If Epic didn't care to begin with, they certainly would not have given us their engine to tinker with. They care so much that they revolutionized the game industry in one release of Gears.

Not trying to solve this kind of ordeal is a way for other game companies to sift through applications as well. If you're just doing this just because, then I understand too.

Dont forget to have fun CPP... :)

[geodav]

Because no one has actually figured out how to get their characters in game, doesn't mean that it IS actually hard. We are only missing the technique. I have managed to create my own character from scratch and bring it into unreal using my own custom animations... not using the skeleton/anims that they've provided... (It was merely a test. I didn't create every single animation from scratch because its too time consuming. It doesn't work like a charm, but I'm still learning).
i beg to differ but at my mod site i have a tutorial which show you how to get a custom character into the game, it's the same way that was show by the Buzz team for UT2004 using Epic's rig and anims. Now if you want a custom rig plus anims then you'll have to start doing custom coding as these are set in the factions code which should be opened in the next patch.
btw don't hold your breath for more Buzz vtm's all thats public is their books which are due out in June

edit forgot to add this link with a list of custom characters http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=599298

[L0rdGunn3r]

I know more people who purchased UT3 for the sole purpose to mod it and not play it for whatever that worth. Epic said the UDN would be open to help modders and etc. This is 100% of the reason why I purchased the game. I read in interviews and etc that we would have good support for the modding but to be honest I've wasted literally 100s of hours getting things figured out. Epic could of simply posted articles on in the UDN yet we are all still waiting. I know I'm not alone and this particular thread proves my point. Does Epic owe us something that they said they would deliver? That question should not even need to be asked.

[Discmage]

I think its a good point to be made though. We could possibly be getting a little spoilt by the material that is available, but because us character modders don't get much at all we feel a little left out for now.

I assume Epic are indeed working out the kinks. THe fact they have said they are improving custom faction support in the next patch is a good indication they are indeed listening to us.

The fact is Video tutorials and general information DOES take a long time to do well. ANd the material so far for other areas is pretty top quality. Its just unfortunate that the character modders didn't get some Tutorial action. Hopefully once they get the kinks out of the system they might do a tutorial dedicated to custom characters and no doubt we will still complain, but I hope at least some of us will be happy :)

Personally I've stopped working on trying to import my character and just focusing on getting the character modelled as best as possible. in a patch or two the import process might be considerably different and/or improved. So I might just wait for then and focus on other things.

[PoopaScoop]

I gotta say, Epic has missed a huge opportunity too capitalize on the hype of there own product. If they had release a variety of tutorials near the release date of both GOW & UT3, the development community would be creating tidal waves of (beautiful) assets for there products... seems crazy to me to have the most popular engine on the market with all that hype then seem to neglect the development community. Shotgun to your own foot, syndrome

Though saying that, it does sound like there are still alot of workflow problems still in the engine, which they are still working on... I donno... I just wanna know how to use thoughs potentially great effects in the engine :(

[Discmage]

But they DID! The amount of tutorials straight out of the box on the collectors edition is pretty thorough. Its just a shame that character/vehicle and weapon modders didn't get their share. However as maps and machinema seem more popular to do it would have been in their best interest to cover those areas first...which they did.

There are more than enough tutorials on Max and Maya as programs themselves, there is no need for epic to cover modeling and texturing techniques. Only what needs to be covered with their engine.

The problem, I feel, is that most modders don't actually want to make custom assets and would much prefer to make maps or stuff with the ready made assets that come with the game. eg. many of the maps that have alerady been released. Custom material takes a hell of a lot longer, is more difficult and generally is a much more focussed task than using the epic material.

Epic, I think, have looked at where their main audience in modding lies and spent what resources they could on those tutorials. making maps, kismet and other things related to map making generally seems to be the main basis for the tutorials that came with the collectors edition. I hope (quite fervently) that as the user base grows and more people willing to make custom stuff evolves we will see better support and more tutorials from either epic or 3D buzz.

But thats only hoping :)

The MAIN thing we can hope for is that they read what we would like in future patches and implement some of those which they seem to be doing.

[PoopaScoop]

Ye ye I know, I have the special edition... I should have highlighted VARIETY in my last message.
Yes I do love the beautyful work that epic have done too but, y'all seem too quick to jump to epics defence, and overestamate the work that goes into a tutorial document.
From my past history of working for a games company, for all the dev teams there it was essential to work out a workflow for all areas of the game (building & characters, weapons...) and note it down in a document. The document read like a tutorial with and as the project progressed, tips, known bugs and work arounds were added as reference for any who'd work or come into contact with that asset.

So my point is I pretty much garantee the works already been done, if needing a little clean up in it's current state.
And I just wanna know where Epics hiding there workflow documents!

Sorry if It sounds like I'm snappy. It's just that I know it wouldn't take 1hr for one of the character artist to write up a few bullet points - even in a forum - of how he did what he did. Instead hundreds of people wasting hrs apon hrs...

[Shakeno]

edit forgot to add this link with a list of custom characters http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=599298

Was this done using the new custom factions feature for the next patch...? wow... I wonder how they did it so nicely...

[Mandinga]

Yo folks....

I learned how to use the MaterialInstConst by using my parent material as the MI_CH_Necris_FHead01_V01.

If you do that, you need to click the button at the top that reads "Show ALL Material Parameters"

Youll notice that there are a TON of textures that you need to replace. If you decide NOT to replace any single one of those textures and you decide to use the Placeholder texture instead, that is where you'll find your black blotches. Replace them all, or build your own Material Network that uses no placeholders.

If you build your own network, prepare for the following weirdness to happen:

1) The Characters Emissive Property Skyrockets, making the entire Mesh Glow. This ONLY happens in game. The shader will work fine in the Character Selection Menu (in game) and UEd3.
2) When you fight your custom character as a bot, when he kills you, HIS character portrait works properly.
3) When you fight your custom character as a bot, 1 of 2 things will happen: A) SOMTIMES he runs around the game with ABSOLUTELY NO animation, but the texture material will look fabulous. (The char will look like its running around in the DiVinci pose, but the AI still works and reacts and fires and whatnot). B) SOMETIMES the character will use ALL of the proper animations, but the textures will glow insanely just like the custom character that you are.

When the Material loads into a map, the map itself seems to neglect to load all of the properties of the shader. Whats funny about it is I know its loading something. My custom char has facial hair.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs19/f/2007/310/0/9/DictatorGeneral_MarcosOnesimo_by_GeneralSoundwave. jpg

When Viewing the character in-game, the opacity map for the hair actually works for it, enabling each hair to glow too. So, the custom shader does load... but only to a certain extent. I hope this info helps some of you guys out.

Ive been able to sucessfully import 4 custom head meshes and bring them into the game. each head has the same glowing issue because they all use the same parent material. Im going to test out a few more things to see if i can narrow down the Lightbulb blowout. BBS.

How exactly do I generate diffuse, normal and specular maps, how do i make the others? aka ransmission map and mask, opacity map and mask, emissive map?

Would dlove to know.

[JaFO]

Was this done using the new custom factions feature for the next patch...? wow... I wonder how they did it so nicely...

Nope, most of these characters are using either IronGuard or Krall (for that mutant mouse) as their faction.
I do think that we'll see an update once the second patch is released as the patchlist confirms that Custom-factions will be possible.

btw : you don't need to write a complete new custom-faction from scratch.
You could inherit from the male iron guard for example and only change the 1st person arms and the sounds.

[Shakeno]

btw : you don't need to write a complete new custom-faction from scratch.
You could inherit from the male iron guard for example and only change the 1st person arms and the sounds.

Yeah, these are neat news :D

My first prioirity is changing the physics asset (to leave the tail and ear tips dynamic), 1st person arms and sounds... and maybe voicepack... later might be the parent materials... but not very important since mine is working ok for now

[Mandinga]

Been kinda dead here lately, any news guys?

[Discmage]

Personally I gave up and waiting for the patch to see what they do with it. I assume it will make some elements easier.

The main things I want is get rid of the UVW Map restrictions, Look at that glow element (or tell us how to get rid of it) and the custom factions I suppose. Those were the only issues I was having. Otherwise I'd have had my character in ages ago.

I don't know how the guys are releasing models and their characters don't seem to have as bad a glow factor. *shrugs*

[Havoc89]

Update here. I finally got a chance to get my character ingame. Works fine, but I couldnt understand how to work that loop hole to get around the UV layout dealy...

anyways here is some progress.

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/7775/nodsoldierbh4.th.jpg (http://img352.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nodsoldierbh4.jpg)

Here is a video, cannot stream so download instead. It is just a turnaround in the player customization screen. (http://www.orderofomega.net/Havoc89/LittleNoddy_Ingame.avi)

UPDATE: He works perfectly ingame now. Only one problem remains, the back of the helmet has a seam which doesnt exists in any of the textures.

[KwietStorm]

You absolutely have to have UT3 installed on your computer in order to use the mod tools, correct?

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: kinda a the same... a bit here...

@Havoc89: Wow, that looks neat! ^-^

@KwietStorm: As far as I know, yes, you do... but don't trust me much.

[geodav]

guys don't hold your breath for a uvw fix or a single mesh system, i think we'll just have to live with it, or write our own code(mod)

[Mandinga]

guys don't hold your breath for a uvw fix or a single mesh system, i think we'll just have to live with it, or write our own code(mod)

You really think so? maybe if we complain enough.

[Havoc89]

Actually i managed to make the character appear ingame perfectly without the UV layout problems. I have no idea how i did it.... :S

[Discmage]

maybe in the custom faction code we can edit the uvw layout. so it won't be completely free, but at least less restrictive than ALWAYS having the head in the top section of the first map etc. I've seen the details of that stuff somewhere, forget where.

[Shakeno]

Actually i managed to make the character appear ingame perfectly without the UV layout problems. I have no idea how i did it.... :S

Lol... that is actually the same thing which happened to me... it appears in-game correctly, no UVW map errors... and I have no idea of what I have done...

[Legendary_Lee]

hey guys, been a while.. So Havoc is there any chance we can see your uv layout? you said you only used one map right?

[Havoc89]

Sure thing but I used 2 sets of 2048 textures. Meaning 2 diffuse 2 spec, and 2 normals. I made them prior to UT3 release.

I scaled down the diffuse maps to 512x512, and only showing diffuse cuz thats all you need to see the layout.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/669/nodsoldierbodyddb3.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nodsoldierbodyddb3.jpg) http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3118/nodsoldierheaddxu7.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nodsoldierheaddxu7.jpg)

[Discmage]

What body parts did you use for everything? Maybe there is a body part that has no UVW restrictions...while main things like head/Torso etc. do..??

[Legendary_Lee]

hmmm ..hey looks like you managed to match up your uv regions to the correct default UT3 texture regions. Thats prolly why yours worked for you and showed up correctly in game. Im gonna have to do the same and try it out. That should work for me too.. I was gonna do that, but when I heard that there will be custom factions comin out for the next patch, I decided to wait.. But maybe Ill go ahead and try it.

[Mandinga]

Try it anyway Lee, I did and the results are great.

Now the only thing I need to know how to make are the emissive, and transmition maps and masks.

[Havoc89]

Hang on Hang on! Wait, I had forgotten to assign the normal map to the solts, they were only activated in the MIC, which were probably using the ones from the Ironguard normal map. So when i assigned the ones from the soldier i made, everything went haywire. So yeah im getting the same problem. Sorry I got people's hopes up.

I will try one thing. I dunno if this is what was posted on Geodav's tutorial, but im going to make a few small polys inside the mesh, and extract them as each of the body parts i did not use, like shoulder pads, goggles, helmet. I think this just might activate all of the areas of the UV layout. How knows it might work.

UPDATE:

KEKE!!! It worked! I just dont think i put in the right code for having an initial part of for the head in the character line code. I dunno if its FacemaskID="" or GoggleID="". Is there a way to have a character startout with every part? How would i set the helmet, goggles, and facemask code so they dont get replaced by the other parts, and also so the helmet doesnt replace the head. The body works like a charm! ;)

[Shakeno]

@Havoc89: I think you are trying the quick work around geodav posted in his website, yeah. It should be each invisible part apart from the others in the ini file...


Parts=(Part=PART_Head,ObjectName="<THE HEAD>",PartID="CODE",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Torso,ObjectName="<your torso bodypart>",PartID="CODE",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Boots,ObjectName="<your boot bodypart>",PartID="CODE",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Arms,ObjectName="<your arms bodypart>",PartID="CODE",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Thighs,ObjectName="<your thighs bodypart>",PartID="CODE",FamilyID="TWIM")

Later, add this:

Characters=(CharName="Teh name",Description="Teh text",CharID="A/B/C",Faction="TwinSouls",PreviewImageMarkup="<Images:UI_Portrait.Character.UI_Portrait_Character _TwinSouls_Male_Head04>",CharData=(FamilyID="TWIM",HeadID="CODE",TorsoID="CODE",ShoPadID="A",bHasLeftShoPad=false,bHasRightShoPad=false,ArmsID ="CODE",ThighsID="CODE",BootsID="CODE"),AIData=(Aggressiveness=0.4,CombatStyle=0.3,Tacti cs=0.6,FavoriteWeapon="lazer_shooper"))

It is weird that my method worked for you... I've tried in Lee's model and it didn't work... maybe I missed something there... but well... glad to know that it worked for you ;-)

[geodav]

@Shakeno its your workround so don't be modest, i completely forgot about the littlepolys inside the mesh, i might just try this myself later :) back to my bike :(

[Mandinga]

Heres an update on my character:

Front with helm
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Front.jpg

Back with helm
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Back.jpg

Front without helm
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Front2.jpg

Back without helm
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Back2.jpg

---

Now here are the shots of the shading error:

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Error.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Error2.jpg


My question is how do I fix the split shading that the character is showing? Notice the belly area aside from others. Anything you think may help is really appreciated :).

[Shakeno]

@geodav: lol... sure... but well, I find kinda weird it does not work sometimes and other times does... it should be stated that it is not 100% effective.

@Mandinga: Try another parent material instance and faction, and tweak yours, it might help on it... also... yay for windowed! ^-^

[Havoc89]

I believe I did all the code work correctly. The technique works on the body, but why not the head? Thats what im confused about. My method is a bit different from your shakeno, but i think it follows the same principle.

[Mandinga]

@geodav: lol... sure... but well, I find kinda weird it does not work sometimes and other times does... it should be stated that it is not 100% effective.

@Mandinga: Try another parent material instance and faction, and tweak yours, it might help on it... also... yay for windowed! ^-^

Well I tried it with the iron guard and necris shaders, No dice. Got anything else?

[Shakeno]

@Mandinga: Have you changed the faction to the one which your model uses as well?

[Mandinga]

Tried changing factions in the .ini and I have the same results, Is there anything I'm forgetting to do in UED. Something I have to chage on the texture options? I simply don't know what else to try.

[Discmage]

Just a query...I'd do it myself but to get the the point where I can play with these things would take a a bit while some of you guys might beable to tweak quickly....

anyway, has anyone thought about changing the UVW restriction at the bottom of the defaultcustomchar.ini file to just use the whole map? eg. make one mesh, set it as the torso and hide the rest, or any other rarely used part so it doesn't screw around with as much stuff and set it to use the full 2048x2048?

I think I have to get back onto the UT3 ball soon but I am working on another character...but I will try this approach soon if noone else gets to it. It probably won't fix the emissive/glow issue, but it might get rid of the mapping issues.

[Legendary_Lee]

Well I tried it with the iron guard and necris shaders, No dice. Got anything else?

Hey Mandinga, that is the same problem I am getting with mine man. In the character viewer UVs show up fine.. but in the gameplay mode, some of the UVs are missing..getting black textures. This is wat Im trying to work on now..

[Shakeno]

Well... I am out of ideas... maybe my model works because it was 4 textures first, then I melted everything in just 1 texture... so it is 1 texture in the upper right, another upper left, another lower right and another lower left... that is the only thing different I can think about...

[Mandinga]

Lee: My textures display correctly it's just this seam in the middle of the model that results in retarded shading. I removed all seams from my textures and still no progress.

Shakeno: Out of ideas = bad. I compared my textures to other models that I downladed and they are dooing exactly the same thing i'm doing, only differene is that they have no retarded shading issues.

Do I have to follow naming conventions? IE twin souls naming conventions. Could this shading issue be due to that?

[Havoc89]

I have the same problem, that messed up shaders problem, there are no seams in my textures, but i notice some messed up shaders ingame. Has anyone tried making their own parent material?

[Mandinga]

I have the same problem, that messed up shaders problem, there are no seams in my textures, but i notice some messed up shaders ingame. Has anyone tried making their own parent material?
Cool, then I'm not alone on this one.

Can you pst a shot of your textures (diffuse, spec and normal) I want to compare, maybe by spoting similarites I can figure it out.

[EvilEngine]

You cannot use a new parent material unless you have a custom family. The code in the family uc will specify which parent material is used by default. Yes you can make one, and have your MIC use the new parent but In game the material will default back to whatever the Faction you chose for your character has in it's family code.

[Xero]

There may or may not be an obvious answer to this but does any now why my custom character shows up in the selection screen but in game it just shows up as the default player model? Oh and don't mind the model it's just a bunch of cylinder I patched together for testing.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/9824/ut32008020220294475zh6.jpg

[Mandinga]

There may or may not be an obvious answer to this but does any now why my custom character shows up in the selection screen but in game it just shows up as the default player model? Oh and don't mind the model it's just a bunch of cylinder I patched together for testing.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/9824/ut32008020220294475zh6.jpg


Check your customcharacter.ini Somethings wrong there.

[Xero]

Thank but I don't get it. If it shows up in the selection screen shouldn't the model show up in-game too? I can find anything wrong with my customcharacter.ini.

Characters=(CharName="Miyuki",Description="<Strings:UTGameUI.CharLocData.Jester_Description>",CharID="P",Faction="TwinSouls",PreviewImageMarkup="<Images:UI_Portrait.Character.UI_Portrait_Character _TwinSouls_Female_Head01>",CharData=(FamilyID="TWIF",HeadID="C",TorsoID="C",ShoPadID="NONE",bHasLeftShoPad=true,bHasRightShoPad=true,ArmsID="NONE",ThighsID="C",BootsID="NONE"))

[Mandinga]

Thank but I don't get it. If it shows up in the selection screen shouldn't the model show up in-game too? I can find anything wrong with my customcharacter.ini.

Characters=(CharName="Miyuki",Description="<Strings:UTGameUI.CharLocData.Jester_Description>",CharID="P",Faction="TwinSouls",PreviewImageMarkup="<Images:UI_Portrait.Character.UI_Portrait_Character _TwinSouls_Female_Head01>",CharData=(FamilyID="TWIF",HeadID="C",TorsoID="C",ShoPadID="NONE",bHasLeftShoPad=true,bHasRightShoPad=true,ArmsID="NONE",ThighsID="C",BootsID="NONE"))


Your char id's may be conflicting with another character. Give your stuff a 2 letter iD say "GG" and test it then. I've never had the shopads work with the NONE Id put in, use exising shopads and remove them ingame via the selection screen.

[Discmage]

And no, if it works in the custom character screen it doesn't mean it works in game...generally it doesnt in fact! :(

[Mandinga]

Thanks to the help of EvilEngine My characters works 100% Ingame. He's helping alot of people over on his forums, go join.

http://www.imagecross.com/myspace-image-upload-viewer-7.php?id=2605Untitled-1.jpg

http://www.imagecross.com/myspace-image-upload-viewer-7.php?id=5192Untitled-2.jpg

Might not hurt to donate too.

[geodav]

@Mandinga if you had given us that info the chances are we could have helped, pictuers tell a thousand words but packages and ini's show the faults. Don't be scared to ask someone to check your work nobody is perfect

[GeneralSoundwave]

here is a test for my custom SSS shader.

this works perfectly through unrealed, the custom char selection menu, and the bot avatars. only problem i have with this is that when in game, his head glows like a lightbulb...

http://generalsoundwave.deviantart.com/art/Unreal3-SSS-ShaderTest-76489365

[EvilEngine]

here is a test for my custom SSS shader.

this works perfectly through unrealed, the custom char selection menu, and the bot avatars. only problem i have with this is that when in game, his head glows like a lightbulb...

http://generalsoundwave.deviantart.com/art/Unreal3-SSS-ShaderTest-76489365

Anything custom WILL NOT work becuase the faction your using defaults to a simple material instance overwriting anything you picked in your materials.
The patch will solve this. I have many new materials too and can't use them becuase of this.
For example this is the Ironguard male:



/**
* Copyright 1998-2007 Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*/

class UTFamilyInfo_Ironguard_Male extends UTFamilyInfo_Ironguard
abstract;

defaultproperties
{
FamilyID="IRNM"

ArmMeshPackageName="CH_IronGuard_Arms"
ArmMeshName="CH_IronGuard_Arms.Mesh.SK_CH_IronGuard_Arms_MaleB_ 1P"
ArmSkinPackageName="CH_IronGuard_Arms"
RedArmSkinName="CH_IronGuard_Arms.Materials.M_CH_IronG_Arms_FirstP ersonArm_VRed"
BlueArmSkinName="CH_IronGuard_Arms.Materials.M_CH_IronG_Arms_FirstP ersonArm_VBlue"

NeckStumpName="SK_CH_IronG_Male_NeckStump01"

PhysAsset=PhysicsAsset'CH_AnimHuman.Mesh.SK_CH_Bas eMale_Physics'
AnimSets(0)=AnimSet'CH_AnimHuman.Anims.K_AnimHuman _BaseMale'

BaseMICParent=MaterialInstanceConstant'CH_All.Mate rials.MI_CH_ALL_IronG_Base'
BioDeathMICParent=MaterialInstanceConstant'CH_All. Materials.MI_CH_ALL_IronG_BioDeath'

MasterSkeleton=SkeletalMesh'CH_All.Mesh.SK_Master_ Skeleton_Human_Male'
CharEditorIdleAnimName="CC_Human_Male_Idle"
}

[GeneralSoundwave]

HA! I KNEW I was on the right track! I saw that too! sweet. Thanks for the confirmation Evil Engine!

[Mandinga]

@Mandinga if you had given us that info the chances are we could have helped, pictuers tell a thousand words but packages and ini's show the faults. Don't be scared to ask someone to check your work nobody is perfect

I know, I figured you were busy, EvilEngine PM'd me and invited me to his forum for help.

[geodav]

@Mandinga, no probs so long as you got help, but by posting here what the faults where and what corrected them helps every one, if you see where i'm coming from

[Mandinga]

@Mandinga, no probs so long as you got help, but by posting here what the faults where and what corrected them helps every one, if you see where i'm coming from

Yeah I get ya Geodav.

It seems that I had two things wrong with my file, one was the naming convention (I had no idea this affected anything) and the second was incorrect LODS.

This is what caused everything to look "split down the middle".

[geodav]

i justed used Shakeno's work around to import a 2-piece mesh which worked fine, i'm just having a few rigging problems atm and flipped polys might be able to show a pic at the weekend

[geodav]

just to show it works
http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/team/geodav/screens/Tau/taugenscreen.jpg
this is a 2 piece mesh with 2 textures, the head mesh with a 2048 texture (head in the head region)
the main body/arms/legs/pads are all 1 mesh with the uvw's not in the correct regions but are showing correctly in game because of the bogus parts inside the mesh

forgot to add the credits sorry

the model/texture/normal maps were all done by a great guy called Alchemist101 over at the http://www.game-artist.net/forums/

[MisterTrioxin]

Sweet.

And that Tau looks awesome, man.
WH40K dudes (Orks, mainly) are on the top of my "please let them be made sooner or later" list.

[Blechkopp]

Hello everybody, hello geodav!
Sorry, but i'm a real Warhammer 40k-Fan specially, TAU-Fan, so can you mabye give me this awesome Tau-Model plz, i can't wait to play it x)

[Havoc89]

Ahh, Alchemist made that didnt he? Looks fantastic!

Geodav, I did something simular with the head, where i have bogus mesh's acting as the the helmet, goggles, etc... Though, the head does not show up right.

[geodav]

@Havok89 yes he did sorry, i've corrected the post to add credits to him
i never bothered with the helmet/googles bits but those regions could be used for other bits not just helmets, as for the head texture you must put it in the top half of the texture, if you can link me the texture maybe i can point you in the right direction

@ MisterTrioxin i'd love to get some Orks in but i don't have any models of them and i can't do everything

@Blechkopp sorry i can't release the Tau guy on his own, the reason is GW's IP states single models are a big NO NO but TC's are fine :)

[BuSyMan]

Hi all! I'm having a problem with some custom character heads I ported to UT3. I followed Showster's tutorials from 3DPalace step by step and it pretty much worked on some heads I ported earlier but now...

Sample:
-here's how it looks:
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5637/erinyesbugyh5.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=erinyesbugyh5.jpg)

-here's how it should look:
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/797/erinyesxs9.th.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=erinyesxs9.jpg)

Any advise?

Edit: Forgot to mention the vertical seams on the face/back ok the head

[geodav]

@BuSyMan check your log file, it should tell you that your head material isn't set right, you must use a materialinstantconstant as mention in my tutorial (link in the sig)

while i'm here i'd like to post 2 pics from the Tau General model in_game

http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/team/geodav/screens/UT3/taugen01.jpg

http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/team/geodav/screens/UT3/taugen02.jpg

[Mandinga]

Geodav not much for 40k bu that looks cool.

Any one here know how to cook custom characers peices for the ps3?

[Discmage]

Those Tau look cool :) I would do more with Normal maps though...I think if you used the Normalmap filter in photoshop it would really bring out some of the details in the armour. Thats the QUICK way anyway :) You can't beat proper normal map generation though, but it takes a lot longer unfortunately.

I still have to get those marines to you too. I haven't forgotten!!

[BuSyMan]

I did read your tutorial but, (oops) I didn't fit my textures to the preset regions :o
P.S.: The head texture is only half the face; do I need to mirror it in photoshop when i set it in the region? Probably yes...

Edit: Errr... definately NO; I just needed to squish it vertically to half an assign the vertices to that location :o
btw your Tau looks awesome :p

[geodav]

@BuSyMan good to hear you fixed it, you don't need to use the whole region just make sure the uvw's are in there.
@Discmage the model has a 2048 normal map its just that UT3 doesn't use it whilest playing the game even at highest setting (graphic card 7600gs) i know others have had this problem which is why most just show screenies from the selection screen.
I'm going to try a short matinee to see if it looks better then

[Devious_DJ]

hey ive been lookin at sum of ur chars and they all look pretty good..i wanna get into this skinning thing anyone know anygood programs......

oh n would anyone mind cooking any 4 ps3(i kno theres kno heads but custom armor would help theres so few for the ps3)

[AnubanUT2]

It should be known by now that the PS3 has a bug with custom characters in so much as heads do not work ... so its pointless to ask people to cook buggy incomplete models now when as soon as the bug is fixed you will be asking again for folks to go through the cooking process for each model all over again. That is really a waste of time and that is why I am not doing any of EEs models until the problem has been fixed and addressed.

Read about it here:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PS3Mods.html

[AnubanUT2]

Geodav not much for 40k bu that looks cool.

Any one here know how to cook custom characers peices for the ps3?

There are no really good directions for how to do it. But you can look at the link I just posted and get as much info as is out there from Epic.

[BuSyMan]

@BuSyMan good to hear you fixed it, you don't need to use the whole region just make sure the uvw's are in there.
Figured that out too... thx for the replies :p

[BuSyMan]

Err... is it me or custom heads rigged on the supplied male and female skeleton are buggy when you use them with the Necris faction? The characters show up with an empty space between their hands and the weapon; Iron guard and twin souls/ronin are showing no problems :confused:

[GUPraeToriaN]

one model i would love to see in UT3 is....pumpkinhead and i means this pumpkinhead


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/wdpraetorian/wwwhouseofmysterioussecretscom__pum.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/wdpraetorian/imagesgooglecom__review_pumpkinhead.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/wdpraetorian/www.jpg

this would be a seriously bad a$$ model to have

[AnubanUT2]

^^^ Now that would make an awesome monster for Invasion because you could scale him to the correct height ... IIRC PH is like 10 feet or 12 feet so he would be perfect as a mini boss monster in invasion or for a TC Mod.

[Mandinga]

^^^ Now that would make an awesome monster for Invasion because you could scale him to the correct height ... IIRC PH is like 10 feet or 12 feet so he would be perfect as a mini boss monster in invasion or for a TC Mod.

Invasion sounds good.

[Pete_Ellis]

Those Tau look cool :) I would do more with Normal maps though...I think if you used the Normalmap filter in photoshop it would really bring out some of the details in the armour. Thats the QUICK way anyway :) You can't beat proper normal map generation though, but it takes a lot longer unfortunately.

I still have to get those marines to you too. I haven't forgotten!!

also use CrazyBump, its free off CrazyBump.com and its amazing, just import your image and it not only turns it inot a normal map but also options for specualr, parallax occulsion, ambient occulison etc, so powerful, so quick. Hope this helps.

[BuSyMan]

Try feeding him a cookie :-SS

One last question (I think :p): What do you usually set your specular level to so you can get rid of the overglow effect?

[geodav]

@Busyman i use a standard spec map, check your log file it might tell you if you have a wrong texture setting.

@Pete the character has 2048 diffuse+normal+specular maps the problem is that the game doesn't render the normal maps(on characters) whilst playing. play a DM with 8 bots then in game open the console (TAB) and type in playersonly (freezes the bots) then run round and find the bots and have a look(screenshot), now compare them with Epic's

[Mandinga]

Hey guys I've got another question. Does anyone know where I can get epics animation sets for UT3 online they released em for UT2004, wonder if they did so for UT3. If so can anyone provide a link.

trying to port this character from UT2004. He's got custom bones, any suggestions?

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/Noname.jpg

[geodav]

actually epic only released the anims for ut2003 and they didn't work right for me in ut2004, my be was my rigging :D. so far they've only released the rig for UT3 so its time to get work on your anims, you could try using the ut3 anims by using the ut3 rig it might work

[Denny]

Seems the 1.2Patch is out. Up to you to find it.

[Mandinga]

Seems the 1.2Patch is out. Up to you to find it.

Geodav: Hmm even though the custom bones are in there?

Denny: How would that fix this port issue?

[Discmage]

Well well...with the new patch out I guess tha games (aka mods) are on again! hehe.

You going to be updating your tutes on the new stuff Geo? You seem to be a MACHINE in regards to the tutes your putting out. Keep it up :)

In regards to animations...its not fun to do them all by youerself...unless you like animating.. however using the biped tools you can flip and reverse and do pretty cool things to make things easier and quicker. UT3 has more animations to do though than UT2004.

Well...back to my marine I guess!

[Discmage]

In regards to custom bones...what you COULD do is grab the old UT2004 files. Save out the animation information to .bip and apply it to the custom rig. It may not be perfect but it would be a start. You wouldn't have to animate from scratch at least.

I've also been playing with some things since the new patch came out. My model is still particularly bright so the normal maps don't really show that well, although I might need to tweak a few more settings. I've been trying to use EvilEngine's Base MaterialInstance textures but that doesn't seem to get rid of it.

I also still have the UVW Mapping issues, although I 'think' I am using evil's base character family settings. It seems that you HAVE to have the UVW Mapping in the set locations. Persoanlly thats the quite annoying and quite restrictive. Could just be me though. Hopefully there is a way to just free up that UVW map restriction so you can put whatever part you want wherever you want. At worst I'll just remap my character....but still.

So yeah...dunno. Its probably a case of I am going about things completely wrong. I guess I'll keep playing tomorrow.

[geodav]

Hi Guys, well i had a quick play with the new patch, well custom families work ok but you still have to use the old factions otherwise you get the crap white selection screen. eg you set it up via code with all the custom bits you want and then compile it and pass the script on with your character package+UtCustomChar.ini+UTGame.ini

@Discmage send me your character package and i'll have a look
and yes i'll update the tutorials soon

[lazyk]

i haven't been able to keep up to date with ut recently, lots of work getting in the way but did anyone ever get opacity working, or did this patch do anything that might have fixed it

[Discmage]

@geo: "then compile it and pass the script on with your character package+UtCustomChar.ini+UTGame.ini"

what changes do you need to make in the UTGame.ini? I haven't noted anywhere that we needed to and its a BIG file to look through. Nothing stood out that needed to be changed.

And what do you mean by 'compile'? That to me means you press a special button in a special place that does special things with your files :) If your answer to this doesn't point me to something new, I might have to send some boots over to you. I just want them to work before moving on to the rest of the character. I COULD do the workaround I suppose and put it all in one mesh, but persoanlly I think a character should work like it SHOULD work. Rather than work arounds. I will study Evil Engines Spawn character some more too over the next few days and figure out how he's done it. Its a pretty sweet character, as is his Nanosuits :)

[Denny]

Compiling is what you do when you create custom code and need to be able to run it.

[Discmage]

OK, so while tinkering away at my ever never working character I found a couple of things that 'may' help reduce the brightness thing. At least if you are still using the Twinsouls base material.

If you go into the material instance you are setting up with the twinsouls base material as base open the tab for 'Scalar Parameter Values' and look for Char_Sidelight_Offset. Changing this moves the superbright region and may help if you move it someplace it can't be seen?? If we could turn it off that would be cool (I assume this would be a different material base however.

The other thing I found to reduce the brightness halo (possibly) was to open up the 'StaticSwitchParameterValues' and tick the left and right box for Char_hasFresnelMap. This seems to get rid of the glow rim around the material.

Dunno if that helps, I'm still playing with everything. I seem to be learning more by breaking everything rather than making things work.

[Discmage]

Alright, so a couple of other things I have found out...although feel free to correct me on this.

Shakeno's workaround seems to only work if you use one texture for the object. I happened to used a couple of channels and I still had issues (at least, on the second channel).

What I did was basically redo my mapping into the sections (didn't really matter what was what, just that they were in each section) and then broke it up into seperate meshes. In the ini file I just assigned the mesh that had the section to the corresponding custom part.

eg. so if I had the shoulder pads Mapping information in the torso section I made the shoulder pads set in the ini file to the Torso.

Now, for some odd reason during all my importing my character has suddenly changed orientation. He is now facing right all the time rather than forwards, he also hovers a little above the ground too. Does anyone know why this might be...even though initially he always faced the right direction? He looks correct in the customisation screen (but as we all seem to know now, this means very, VERY little). I am using the original UT3_Male base file we always have. So I'm a little lost as to why he's decided to change.

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: I think you need to set the Origin and rotational origin to <0, 0, -51> and <0º, 90º, 0º>, in the skeletal mesh viewer, below the apply texture section.

By the way, I just returned to update a little my model... and played with it... and I noticed that my game crashes everytime I die from the bio-rifle... also, I tried to change the foot bone by the second digitigrade leg bone, and the toe by the foot one, and... works fine but for some reason, the digitigrade leg section looks weird sometimes... I guess that happens for a problem with the Inverse Kinematics, is there a way to customize it?

Also, by the way... is there any tutorials about how to create custom factions? and does the custom character factions work in online games? (i.e. you can see yourself if the server does not have the .u package)

[Discmage]

I think Evil Engine has dabbled in custom factions...but from what I gather its still messy to work with. He prefered to chuck his new characters in with the Ironguard faction, but made his own family. I don't actually know what the benefits of this are as yet, apart from the fact he made his spawn character have different coloured gibs (flouro green) which was a nice touch I thought.

I tried the changes in the editor for orientation and height from the ground. So thats now sorted.

I can't exactly follow what you mean by your foot/leg comment. Whats a digitigrade?! I've never heard of that! :)

The Biorifle thing may have something to do with a selection in the base material as I saw a 'biodeath' reference...but I don't know anything about that...just that I saw that reference.

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: Well, I'd like to make my own skeleton (apart of the mesh, I mean the one that appears on death with the link gun second fire), materials, animations and yeah, gibs, instead of a human head, having the fox muzzle all bloody :p

Also, digitigrade stands for 'walking on toes'. Humans walk on the soles of their feet, while many animals walk over just over the very end of their legs. There is a short but good explanation in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitigrade). Talking anatomically... let's say plantigrades (humans) are a straight thigh, leg, then on 90º to forwards is the feet ending in the toes. Digitigrades are a thigh, then the leg bends to the backwards and bends again in the middle to the forwards, ending in the toes. It is like the Gen Mo'kai in UT2004.

About the biorifle... I have no idea why it happens... if the materials are replaced automatically... it should work fine... maybe if I can make a custom faction it could work...

I'd really like to know if custom factions are allowed to work in any server, regardless of it having the custom character or not :)

[EDIT]: This is weird... I just have edited the model again, set all the materials again and the game does not crash this time... just the Inverse Kinematics but... does not crash... I think I'll have to wait until I find out how to edit the IK's to have the digitigrade skeletal rig... I'll have to stick with the plantigrade ugly hack while...

[BuSyMan]

I'm really starting to get a hang of this :p

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7277/erinyesfullbodycb1.jpg

PS: Fully working, 2 meshes (head & body) and an aditional single-poly mesh for the other bodyparts :D

[geodav]

ok guys i had a play with the custom family(works) custom faction (doesn't work) so this means you can have all the bits eg rigs,animsets,physicassets,material bases,gibs but you still have to use the epic factions.
i'm still looking into it and hopefully someone at epic as well

[Discmage]

@Shakeno: the only thing i can think of is using the Krall skeleton instead, its a kind of different walk style...but i dont know if thats the kind you're after. (off to work, no time to wiki! :))

custom rigs would require custom anims i assume.

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: The krall is "too brute". It works perfectly with the human male, the only problem is the lack of information about the new bone in the hierarchy, which confuses the Inverse Kinematics properties for the legs... that is why I want to know how to make custom families/factions/whatever, to see if I can customize all what I need... so far I have to go with the standard skeleton position (plantigrade leg style on human skeleton)

@geodav: Will you publish a tutorial about making the custom families? As you can see... I am interested in one :p

[Discmage]

You could possibly look at reverse engineering EvilEngines family code stuff? His Spawn Beta has a custom family you could look at, I assume he wouldn't mind seeing as he has released some of the art resources too. He did a pretty good job of tweaking it :)

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: Oh, thanks. Is there any link to where he may have published any "open-source" family thing?
Thanks

[Discmage]

Well his Spawn beta is out on these forums...in the beta forums I think. I assume he's ok with you looking over it, he seems to be the one who has a couple of the more solid characters out so far. I don't really know what he changed apart from the use of custom Gibs...but thats cool and should give you an idea of how he goes about it perhaps?

[geodav]

@geodav: Will you publish a tutorial about making the custom families? As you can see... I am interested in one

I'll see what i can put together this weekend the main files you need to look at are

UTFamilyInfo
UTFamilyInfo_Human
UTFamilyInfo_Ironguard
UTFamilyInfo_Ironguard_Male
UTFamilyInfo_Ironguard_Female

and an .int (like the UTGameUI.int) in the Localization/Int folder

[Shakeno]

@Geodav & Discmage: Well, I've been looking about it... it works perfectly... after some hard tweaks... For some reason, the hoverboard looks like I am drunk everytime I get on it! (I am sure it is because the hoverboard state uses the physics model... he goes horizontally instead of vertically...) I've tried changing the mass of the different ragdoll parts and the results are different everytime.
Also, it works on online games correctly (I see myself and the features when feigning death instead of the Ironguard guy). I see my "cloth" (tail) and stuff (hope it wasn't an optical effect when returning from feign death to normal) reacting to physics.
By the way, I had to do it in a way a little different to EvilEngine's style... I recycled 70% of the code I wanted to use before the custom families. It went fine except for the hoverboard... only need to fix that... I'd need a server with thirdperson enabled to comfirm that everything else is fine too.

Oh, and by the way, team colours don't work for me either... that is another thing I need to fix!

[AnubanUT2]

This is great to read that you model makers are starting to really get a handle on how to create custom models and add then into the game properly. Granted there has been a great deal more to learn with this version of UT since it looks like so much is different. I thank you folks for really sticking with this and I truly look forward to seeing some of these models I am reading about. I am more of a character model content nut than anything else (DM Maps are a very very close second). :)

[Player_72985]

I'm really starting to get a hang of this :p

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7277/erinyesfullbodycb1.jpg

PS: Fully working, 2 meshes (head & body) and an aditional single-poly mesh for the other bodyparts :D

Did you upload the model? o.o That looks niiice I wanna get that model in mai UT3, upload! Nao!

Also; what happened to Legendary_Lee and his model? Any news on that?

[Discmage]

Looking at that character makes me think Cortana from Halo would be a cool character with the material effects you could pull off in this game. :)

On another note, has anyone had the issue where an assigned texture turns up white in the game? It was working fine till I changed the textures to some other ones I imported. It'd be really handy if there was any reliability with this thing :) Although its probably just me.

[Discmage]

OK, so another day of playing and I have my character working in game for the most part at least from an internal play sort of way....however its still bright as anything and for some reason the textures aren't showing up. eg. the normal map isn't even going in. The diffuse texture however DOES work, but its super bright. The brightness may be voiding the normal map...but I dunno.

This is after using both the twinsouls base material AND Evilengines base material. So I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do about the glow, and now the materials not showing up properly.

On the upside, it does look pretty cool with a starcraft space marine hooning around on a hoverboard, even if he is superbright and normal map free :)

I might try and reduce the colour tones to REALLY low and see what that does....but other than that...any ideas?

[Shakeno]

@AnubanUT2: See some of these models? Well, here are my two cents :)
This is the progress of my model so far (Discmage, have a look at the lower legs, that is what I was meaning with 'digitigrade')
Selection Screen: http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/2520/selscreencn7.jpg
On foot: http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1851/screenshot00005kl7.png
On hoverboard: http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7185/screenshot00009nx6.png
Meep! I gone yoga... O.o: http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/6884/screenshot00004ru1.png
(Sorry for not using IMG code, I didn't want to kill your bandwidth with loads of images)

@Discmage: Hey, are you using common materials or MaterialInstanceConstants? Also, try looking at the sidelight offset scalar paramenter... and... are you using your custom family too?

@All: Forgot to ask... are out there any first person arms model sources? I am in the real need of a skeleton to make my own character hands...

[BuSyMan]

@Player_72985: The thread is over here:
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=603554

@Discmage: About the white textures... did you set the LODGroup for your textures accordingly: TEXTUREGROUP_Character for diffuse (& emissive), TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterSpecular for spec and TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormal for normal map?

[Discmage]

OK...got quite the discussion going here :) hehe.

@Shakeno: I have tried both the original twinsouls base material and EvilEngines base materials (the nano suit one, however the Spawn one is similar) I am applying these to the materialinstanceconstants...It USED to work...I assume if I redid the process they would work again however. Always seems to be the way, maybe I just forgot something simple.

I have looked at that sidelight offset thing....but I dunno, I did try setting my texture diffuse colours REALLY low and that seems to take a lot of the brightness out. I think there must be an amplifier somewhere. I might look into some of those settings as anything above a 60-70 percent 'bright' colour just goes nuts.

In regards to custom family...I figure I don't actually need it as I don't really know what it brings to my character. I mean the spawn one had special gibs...but mine, well, mine is just another character. What does custom family code allow us to do? The only benefit is if it is the only way to use a different base material. Generally I just use the Twinsouls 'TWIM' and hope...however maybe I will look at doing that next.

@Busyman: Yeah I looked at that and you are right, the LODGroup was set wrong, but I updated it and the normal still doesn't work...I might go over the whole import process again just to be SURE its all good however.

[EvilEngine]

Custom family allows more than just custom gibs. It also allows you to use custom materials that have more functions than the standard ones used by Epic. Detail normal maps , different types of side lighting, custom damage skins and skeletons. Also you can even customize the burn material fx so your character's gibs burn up differently and also the hit fx are easily tweakable. You can also make the alpha blending work properly.

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: Yeah, what EvilEngine said (Let's be honest, there is no need to retype all what he said again, hehe).

By the way, can you take a screenshot of your character to see what you exactly mean? Maybe I have something in mind which is different to what you mean...

[geodav]

@All: Forgot to ask... are out there any first person arms model sources? I am in the real need of a skeleton to make my own character hands...

guess what i've been trying to do for the last week, but without the epic rig/mesh we'll have to make our own or use the lower-res ones from the UT3_Male rig

@Disc are your normal maps showing in the selection screen if yes then all is well, as i can't get mine to show in game it might be my card (7600GS) or thats epic cut it out for some reason, i haven't seen any screenshots that really show the character models with normals

[Shakeno]

[QUOTE=geodav;25300499]guess what i've been trying to do for the last week, but without the epic rig/mesh we'll have to make our own or use the lower-res ones from the UT3_Male rig/QUOTE]

I tried that actually, and it looked like a bunch of vomit because the bones are in a bad rotation... also the bone names are different (I changed them to at least have them animated)

[Discmage]

@Geo: I recall my normal maps have worked in game in the past. Just not at all now. Still looking into that though. They 'kind of' worked when the UVW Mapping issues were there...but I suppose its probably hard to say yes or no on that as it was a bit of a mess. EvilEngine has them working in game...I'm trying to figure out how he did it. I assume its the base material, of which I still need to use a custom family to use properly.

@EvilEngine: I looked at using your custom base material...I assume then that you HAVE to use a custom family (eg. your spawn/nano) in order to use your base materials? I couldn't find any reference to them in the scripts, so I assumed it didn't NEED the family. I guess I am wrong on that.

@Shakeno: I think Geo is right, unless Epic release a set 'FPS' example file you might be on your own in regards to making first person hands etc. I would like to do the same eventually for my marine, but I would prefer to get the main character working first. Another case of intense trial and error I suppose :( I will look at showing you my marine soon...probably once I hit the next dead end and have no idea what to do :) A few more things I need to try first.

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: Well... mine is almost finished (just some minor tweaks and it would be done), so I want to start with the first person arms...

Maybe I should try making my own rigs by a hard trial and error process... Anyway, if I can get it correctly... if you guys want I could upload the first person arms model source... but first I have some stuff to do before keep working in the model. Argh!

[EvilEngine]

@EvilEngine: I looked at using your custom base material...I assume then that you HAVE to use a custom family (eg. your spawn/nano) in order to use your base materials? I couldn't find any reference to them in the scripts, so I assumed it didn't NEED the family. I guess I am wrong on that.


All the "code" thats needed to call up the custom items is in the UTCustomChar.ini.
For the spawn its by declaring all the parts of his body as being with the HellSpawn family(FamilyID="HellSpawn") and telling the engine the family name and what U file its located:
ModFamilies=UT3_Family_HellSpawn.UTFamilyInfo_Hell Spawn

Thats all that is needed to get the custom content working. If that is changed, and your model is using a different family, it may crash the game or your model will looked wacked out becuase your main materials are using the parent materials in your model package.

[Showster]

Has anyone tried making a custom character with a custom rig and anim tree yet?

[geodav]

Has anyone tried making a custom character with a custom rig and anim tree yet?

not yet as i've got enough headaches as it is ;) but i will in the next month

[EvilEngine]

Has anyone tried making a custom character with a custom rig and anim tree yet?

My alien does. All custom skeleton, materials, physics assets, and animations.
Its not released yet, but will be soon.

*edit*
Custom sounds too :P

[Player_72985]

@BusyMan - thanks for the link, was looking in the wrong forum (full releases etc.), didn't think it was in the Beta Mods :P

[Discmage]

Alrighty...so my issue with the normal map was the fact I hadn't loaded it properly as a characternormalmap LODGroup (even though I'm SURE I checked it). The other thing to note is that if you try to change it using the texture viewer option in the editor...it won't actually update it. And I think even when you reimport OVER the old one, it keeps the settings of the old one. Although I might have to check on that. Its a complete reimport. Problem now is it says I am using my OLD texture, even though I can't find the reference. Says its in the material instance somewhere but I can't for the life of me find it. I think I will have to restart the whole damn package to get all this sorted.

In regards to the normal map that DOES show up, it seems a little...lame. I much prefer evils enhanced normal method. So Back to trying to get those base materials to work.

@EvilEngine: Do you need to reference your base material in your .u files or anything? You mentioned you need the family code to USE it, but I didn't see any references TO it in the .U file or ini file. Although I could just be blind. Which would explain a lot of the issues I've been having with my character :)
I have copied your nano_base over to my package (and all the things it seems to reference), so if that is the case and I have applied that base into the material instance, maybe there is a conflict in what the .u is looking for and what the package is looking for...or something? Thats my only guess as to why my normal maps aren't working. I think if I got them working I'd be pretty much where I want to be for units.

[EvilEngine]

OK, edited my ini to make my unit part of the nano family and the normal still doesn't come up. However by toning down the colour of my character a LOT it doesn't glow/look super bright...although I must admit the shader doesn't look that good at all. I hope that adding normal and spec maps will make it all shiny and stuff...but I dunno. The lighting looks kind of limited in quality. This whole process is getting more annoying than not with very little payoff.

If the THEME and layout of the UT3 game wasn't so good for random units getting put in I would probably already have moved onto something else...but we'll see. I think we are all getting that little bit closer.

@EvilEngine: Do you need to reference your base material in your .u files or anything? You mentioned you need the family code to USE it, but I didn't see any references TO it in the .U file or ini file. Although I could just be blind. Which would explain a lot of the issues I've been having with my character :)
I have copied your nano_base over to my package (and all the things it seems to reference), so if that is the case and I have applied that base into the material instance, maybe there is a conflict in what the .u is looking for and what the package is looking for...or something? Thats my only guess as to why my normal maps aren't working. I think if I got them working I'd be pretty much where I want to be for units.

UTFamilyInfo_NANO has these lines:


BaseMICParent=MaterialInstanceConstant'UT3_Crysis_ Model.nano_base'
BioDeathMICParent=MaterialInstanceConstant'UT3_Cry sis_Model.Materials.MI_CH_All_Nano_BioDeath'


That tells the game to look for your custom base material instance in a specific package. Thats where all the goodness starts :)

[Havoc89]

Wait wait wait... I havnt been keeping up with this topic, but can we now make custom factions? And just what does that allow us to achieve?

[Discmage]

Havoc89: best catch up with the topic then :) A lot has happened in the past few weeks since the patch. So the last 5 pages should tell you all you really know in regards to new stuff I suppose.

Factions don't seem to be modifiable yet, Families are however, and with that you can do custom stuff like gibs, base materials, soundpacks etc.

[Discmage]

W00T! Seems I got everything working to the point where I feel what I make might actually look good. Thanks to all who has helped me so far!!

As I didn't know how to do the script stuff (make my own, edit existing) I directed my base material to Evil's nano package (or his public spawn one would probably work fine too) rather than pointing to the duplicate ones I was trying to keep together inside MY package. This seemed to work quite well. So if anyone could point me out to some tutes, or even a quick one here as to how to apply your own scripts and stuff that would be appreciated. I've never really looked that deep into the coding side of things.

EvilEngine: I think my specific question is how do you get that script information from the files you released even though there are no scripts referring to that .u IN the files? note I don't know ANYTHING about script files eg. where they reside etc. only that you export them all from the editor before playing with them. I did that and THEN I could see your family scripts. But never the files to how they got there in the first place. I think that will be my last question for you for a time ;) hehe Thanks a HEAP for your help.

OK, back to finishing off the textures I guess!! Yay!

[geodav]

@Discmage send me your package and i'll do you the scripts. it's up to you ;)

or http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=598656

[acgdy]

A quick question:

Can Photoshop CS3 be used as a high-poly model texturizier? :confused:

[Havoc89]

Okay, I think I am upto the part where I now need to make a .u script. Is there a tool in the editor for this? or do I have to look at it through notepad.

Geodav, any idea when you can update your tutorial?

[Discmage]

@Geodav: thanks for the offer but i figure i:ll be doing a few characters so i better get my hands dirty this time :) depending on progress i might need some pointers though, but we`ll see how i go on that thread link first.

[Shakeno]

@Showster: My own model has a custom rig, so, it is possible. Uses the standard male skeleton as base to make it compatible with the default animations.

@acgdy: I guess it is, I did it for mine!

@EvilEngine: Hey, any ideas about the custom sounds? (I think voicepacks are not hard, just saw a part of the twinsouls family and I guess it is easy to do) I'd like to get custom sounds, for paw steps instead of metal-like armor and shoes, hehe... ^^

[BuSyMan]

Ok this is probably a little off-topic but...
I'm rigging this Terminator model... The head was made out of many little pieces with different materials; I attached the pieces and now I need to generate the maps (dif/spc/nrm/ref) to use in Unreal.
What's the most effective way to do this?

[geodav]

@havoc i was going to wait till Epic sort the custom faction bit so i could do the whole lot but i'll see what i can throw together over the next few days.
any way link i posted for Disc try having a read through Xyx's tutorials here http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=598656

[Denny]

A quick question:

Can Photoshop CS3 be used as a high-poly model texturizier? :confused:

I think you need to read up more if you don't even know the answer to that question..... Simply put, yes, you can. A texture is just a two dimensional image and may be created however you want....

[Discmage]

If you meant for photoshop to be used for normal maps textures though, you will need the nVidia Normal map filter you can get off their site. It turns grayscale images into RGB normal maps...although its not nearly as good for results as actual 3D baking normals.

Or that crazybump program I saw linked around here somewhere www.crazybump.com I think it is.

I find it good for the small details like scratch marks, dirt and base texture detail. The ACTUAL detail is 3D.

[jingato]

Ok this is probably a little off-topic but...
I'm rigging this Terminator model... The head was made out of many little pieces with different materials; I attached the pieces and now I need to generate the maps (dif/spc/nrm/ref) to use in Unreal.
What's the most effective way to do this?


CrazyBump (http://www.crazybump.com/)

That program is awesome!! it will generate all the maps you need.

You could also generate normal maps in your 3D App using a high and low poly version of the model.

[EvilEngine]

@Showster: My own model has a custom rig, so, it is possible. Uses the standard male skeleton as base to make it compatible with the default animations.

@acgdy: I guess it is, I did it for mine!

@EvilEngine: Hey, any ideas about the custom sounds? (I think voicepacks are not hard, just saw a part of the twinsouls family and I guess it is easy to do) I'd like to get custom sounds, for paw steps instead of metal-like armor and shoes, hehe... ^^

Voicepacks are easy to do. If you are a beta tester on my forum I have some custom stuff right now being played with and the characters have completely custom voice and sound fx.
*edit*
Just made you a tester so log in and you will see a new section of the forum thats hidden.

[Discmage]

I give up.

I'm gonna have to wait for Geo's (or anyone elses) tutorials to explain this. My patience is at an end, it really is. Things that you think should work, don't. Things that shouldn't work...do. I really couldn't be bothered going through trial and error for months on end on a SECOND engine from the same developer. I like the fact that its so shiny, but I can't exactly agree that its mod friendly.

Good luck guys, see you on the other side :) I HOPE I can eventually bring you some of my work to the masses, but unless they make this system much easier or someone takes all the annoying trial and error out of it I'm taking the selfish route and working on something less frustrating. :) Like I dunno...maybe playing the game for once :) hehe

[BuSyMan]

CrazyBump (http://www.crazybump.com/)

That program is awesome!! it will generate all the maps you need.

Except for diffuse which is what I'm crazed about. I already have this program...


You could also generate normal maps in your 3D App using a high and low poly version of the model.

I already know that but the uvw unwrap is fubared :mad:

I think I'll try using the pelt seam thingy.

[Shakeno]

@EvilEngine: Oh thanks! I'll give it a look.

@Discmage: Hey, come on, don't give up! Maybe you could try giving it to somebody who is experienced and letting him doing the trick for you ;)

[Discmage]

As much as I had hopes that this would be THE mod engine of mod engines I just can't justify it, but I'm not the type to whinge either so I'm just going to take a break and maybe in a few months time things will be either much more sorted from their perspective...or much better documented. Characters just shouldn't be this hard...or more to the point applying A texture just shouldn't be this hard. I'm sure they have their reasons...but damn me if they couldn't document the basics, or make it more modder friendly.

I'll check in though to see how things are no doubt...maybe I'll get randomly inspired as I do sometimes. Keep up the good work, you've all got more lasting power (aka patience) than I do in my old age :)

[Shakeno]

@Evilmage: Hey, I've checked your models right now. Yeah, they have a custom voicepack, I know that is possible, but, do they have custom sounds like hurt or death? They sound like the krall ones to me... the thing is... I'd like to know if it is possible to set your character to have custom sounds (apart of the voicepack, which is already known)

[BuSyMan]

@Evilmage...

I think you mixed up the names ( EvilEngine + Discmage = Evilmage) :p

[EvilEngine]

@Evilmage: Hey, I've checked your models right now. Yeah, they have a custom voicepack, I know that is possible, but, do they have custom sounds like hurt or death? They sound like the krall ones to me... the thing is... I'd like to know if it is possible to set your character to have custom sounds (apart of the voicepack, which is already known)

100% completely custom. Theres no Krall sounds in those packages except the "UTPawnSoundGroup_Locust" uses some of them, but you can make that be different sounds too just like the 'UTVoice" script. The newest version of those specific models will have those Krall sounds changed, I just left them there to make sure things worked right since the models are in beta.

[Shakeno]

I think you mixed up the names ( EvilEngine + Discmage = Evilmage) :p

... yeah XD sorry, I was thinking about writing something for Discmage, then forgot and confused the name! ahahahah sorry! :p

@EvilEngine: Ah, then this means I have to start recording my voice from now to put it with the model:rolleyes: Thanks for clearing it!

[Discmage]

hehe, thats funny...maybe i should change my name :)

Just found out the current issue...once again the texture isn't importing with the correct LODGroup. It seems that even when importing my normal map on the right setting it isn't actually ON the right setting for In game normals...although once agian it works in the character customisation screen.

I found that you CAN change this setting using the Texture Viewer item on the right click of the texture. Change the LODGroup, close the window and it should be set. So if anyone is having issues with your normal map not showing up in game, that is your first place you should look.

So much for not working on it anymore :)

[Discmage]

OK, so latest challenge I need to look at in order to do a proper package is this code thing. I think I can understand it...however for some reason if I open a .u file I believe a lot of the information is missing/inaccessible to me. Notepad, Wordpad and ConText all show weird characters/spacing where I assume all the details I need are meant to be such as default properties (for the base material reference). If I open it up in notepad..I can see the information there...but its pretty messy...and I am assuming there is a neater way to do it.

Has anyone else had this garbling issue, and if so how do I make these programs read the .u files properly so I can use one as a base? I have the UT3 Highlighter for ConText too...but that doesn't help this particular issue.

[Havoc89]

You should use WOTGreal. Here is a link: http://www.wotgreal.com/

I too am currently in the process of creating the code work. However I am completely unsure as to what I am supposed to be coding. Is there a previous coding file I can use to manipulate? Or does this have to be done from scratch. Also can someone share with us just how to go abouts doing so?

[Shakeno]

@Discmage: You need to open the packages in Unreal Editor (the .u files), then export the scripts as classes... then in [My documents]/my games/unreal tournament 3/utgame/exported script (or something like that) you should be able to see the packages and the classes in .UC files. That is plain text code. Good luck!

[BuSyMan]

hehe, thats funny...maybe i should change my name :)

Just found out the current issue...once again the texture isn't importing with the correct LODGroup. It seems that even when importing my normal map on the right setting it isn't actually ON the right setting for In game normals...although once agian it works in the character customisation screen.

I found that you CAN change this setting using the Texture Viewer item on the right click of the texture. Change the LODGroup, close the window and it should be set. So if anyone is having issues with your normal map not showing up in game, that is your first place you should look.

So much for not working on it anymore :)

That means you're back on it? :p
But don't tell me you just found that out :o
When you import the texture and change the LODGroup to Normal ... it actually sets the Compression type to TC_NormalMap instead, after which you have to 2x click on the texture and change it again as it gets reverted back to World :D

[Discmage]

Yes I am back on it XD I should have guessed the allure of a finished character would get the better of me.

Nope, didn't know that...It USED to work fine..I think. I have only found this since the patch. But now that I know, well...I know :)

Now you mentioned the COMPRESSION type...should that be something else? cos I only change the LODGroup to CharacterNormalMap and not anything else.

I am having trouble compiling this particular character code. I think I might have to wait till a tutorial comes on that as following a mutator tutorial doesn't seem to work the same way, or I'm just missing something. When I tell it to compile it just says there are no new scripts to compile.

For me, making the familyinfo_SC2.u script from a .uc script is the only thing I need to do before being able to release a WIP of my character I think. I think I have everything else sorted.

Geodav: If you haven't already, maybe this is something you could update in your tutorial? The texture import issue, not so much the custom scripts...although that WOULD be handy ;) hehe

Shakeno: Thanks. I'll give that a shot from that angle. *update* with no luck :( Might just focus on my textures for now and hope a tutorial comes out from those who seem in the know.

[Mandinga]

Wow I been gone for a few ays and things skyrocket here, glad to see things are moving along, now If I caould get a grasp of these custom factions to fix the damn glowing porblem, stretcing problem and getting hands to display correctly.

[geodav]

@Disc i started doing some screen shots last night, i'll see if i can get something up on the site tonight

ps I'll have a look at the material/texture issue

Edit: ok i've put up a quick run through up on my site, i've tried to keep i simply hope it helps if just shout

[Discmage]

@Mandinga: Things I found that helped with the glowing. For the most part toning down your colours if you are using the base materials of the gfame helps a lot. Put a black layer over EVERYTHING and turn it to multiply and 60% opacity and try that and you will see a significant difference.

There is also moving the sidelight parameters in the material.

Beyond that I suggest looking into using a custom base material (such as EvilEngine's Spawn one) but that requires compiling etc as setting it in the editor is not enough (this annoys me no end)

In regards to stretching I assume that might just be an issue of you changing something in the original file that shouldn't be changed. eg. if you skin the hand to the actual hand, even though it doesn't actually fit to the original rig then it will stretch to accomodate. Or if you have done that and haven't told the engine it needs to consider the difference. Personnally I have just skinned the hand to the forearm and closed the fist. There is no chance I will get my character to suit the epic rig perfectly, and I assumed there would be more than enough issues if I tried to modify too much on my first character.

There might be a way to make it so it considers rotations only rather than scale, bRotationOnly setting for example...but if I recall that didn't work so well...anyone else found they could get away with a considerably different character shape compared to the rig?

@Geodav: Cheers, I'll give it a look over. *Update* Good stuff. The only thing I didn't know was the fact you had to change the UTEditor.ini file. I think I asked about that ages ago but I think it was missed. Thanks for that tute.

*update* It seems to all be working now...but for some reason the compile can't find the reference to the base materials I have duplicated into my package. 'Unresolved reference' seems to be its main complaint. Anyone ever had that? I mean its obvious WHY its doing...but the materials ARE in my package...so I dunno. Probably something simple like always :)

I think I might be a good example of things NOT to do :) Hows everyone elses characters coming along anyway? I seem to be the only one hitting walls every 5 seconds...or is it that I just voice every single one :) hehe

[Havoc89]

Ahh, Everything seems to work like a charm, thank you geodav for updating the tutorial. I had planned to do exactly what you suggested, start small work your way up. Now that I know it is working, I can work on updating some things. For one thing, How can I adjust the top light ingame. I wanted to tweak it, but i didnt see any settings for it in the MIC.

[Discmage]

In regards to my character it SEEMS that he is now fully working. My own base materials and all. So YAY!! Although I don't exactly know how I got from missing references in the package to finding them fine. I assume the next character I will have to go through the processes again to make sure I figure out a fool proof way to make things work.

Thanks all for tips, tutes and premade characters!!! In the end all of them have helped get me where I am at this point. Now for Epic to release the first person rig so we can all do the process again for first person stuff!

@Havoc89: Top light or sidelight? There seems to be a difference. The SIDElight can be modified in one of the tabs in the base material...from what I gather the number represents what position on a horizontal orbit the light is.

the top light can be turned off I think by turning both ticks on UseFresnel I think. But I don't know about this, personally I have avoided the base materials from Epic as soon as I got the idea it was possible. I am using EvilEngines Base Materials which I feel are much more user friendly than Epics.

[Havoc89]

I too am using EvilEngine's Material as a starting point, many thanks mate. I know about sidelights, but this top light is not seen through the editor or the character selection screen. When you go ingame, that is when you see it. It is quite annoying.

[EvilEngine]

My newest materials have even better functions and less of the unused ones to save resources(transmission...who uses that anyways?)

[Havoc89]

Ahh cool. Yeah I didnt quite understand that either, seemed like a waste.

[Shakeno]

My newest materials have even better functions and less of the unused ones to save resources(transmission...who uses that anyways?)

I haven't found anything useful on transmission... I'd like to know what is that useful for... by the way... did any of you got working team colours? mine refuses to change its colors! (I tried splitting my body and started to get texture issues again blargh)

[BuSyMan]

Thx Geodav for updating your tutorial... and actually for writing it in the 1st place :)

[BuSyMan]

Don't know if you guys noticed this but when using custom families you DON'T need to set up your UVW in these anymore:
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8180/img24657rj3.th.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img24657rj3.jpg)http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1999/img08747xc8.th.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img08747xc8.jpg)

Can anyone else confirm this? :D

[Havoc89]

I dont think that is true, I have mine setup with a custom familyID, however I still get the same UV problems around certain areas of the character.

[BuSyMan]

Well it sure is strange, because before I gave my character a custom family he had the black areas and now he doesn't anymore... could be something else though but I don't recall making any major changes that could have solved it :confused:

Edit: Extra info... my character uses the same material for all the bodyparts and multiple materials for the head.

[Havoc89]

I think I may know why. In the head material for my dude, I dont have any a part for "chest female". which is where the goggles for my characters are positioned, and that is where the problem still occurs. But You know what I think you might be right though. Some Problems I had before did vanish.

[Shakeno]

mine has that problem if I set the part "body" on a split mesh... if everything is in the head, it seems to run fine. (I don't understand why)

[Discmage]

Once again it seems like a limitation could potentially annoy a HEAP of modders...much like the assigning 2 unique textures restriction with code in UT2004. You'd think they would learn with these kinds of restrictions. ANYWAY, I'll stop whinging.

In my current character I don't actually have a head...so I have applied the torso and pelvic region to the Head slot, The shoulder pads to the Torso, arms as arms, thighs as thighs, boots as boots. The rest are nomesh or not applied (Ironguard has no goggles as standard for example).

One map is just for the torso and pelvic region (one 'part' - Torso UVW in the Head region, Pelvis UVW in the Helmet region) the other texture is for everything else. However the Shoulder pads UVW is in the Torso area (thats why I applied it to the Torso part.)

From what I gather some things (generally things that are off like goggles, helmets) can be used for anything. Others have to tie in with what part they are meant to be (Head, Boots etc) However a head doesn't have to LOOK like a head, it just have to be in the texture space according to .ini code.

I have a doubt that 2+ channels in one mesh get nasty. Has anyone got a working example of this yet, or have they all used one map channel for their parts (I assume so if you are sticking to the texture restrictions)

[BuSyMan]

... my character uses the same material for all the bodyparts and multiple materials for the head.

Meh ... the other materials don't show up ingame... only the one I also used for the other body parts. :confused:

[geodav]

some times you guys amaze me, come think about it, why did Epic put in the render(uv) regions huh! so that you can have lots of parts from different texture/material sheets without having to load 20+ 2k maps for each character, the engine probably cuts out the part it needs and adds them together to make 3x2k maps. Now if you use Shakeno's work round and make a 2 part mesh head/rest now put your head uv's into the head region of the head sheet and the rest can be any where on the body sheet you then use the customchar.ini to add "ALL" the parts of the rest like this

Parts=(Part=PART_Head,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_head01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Torso,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_torso01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Arms,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_arms01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Thighs,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_thighs01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_Boots,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_boots01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")
Parts=(Part=PART_ShoPad,ObjectName="CH_Tau_General.Mesh.taugen_XShoPad01",PartID="taugen",FamilyID="TWIM")

adding the extra part just tells the engine to render those regions of the map

ps just heard back from the Epic guys that their going to put the First Person Arm Rig up for downloading at the UDN site where the character rigs are. :):):)

[Denny]

They're already there Geodav. ;)
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UT3Mods.html (bottom)

[Discmage]

I thing the materials thing is more a case of it doesn't make SENSE to me :) but then again I never exactly thought straight when it comes to logic. Personally it would seem better to just make your options WIDE open and do whatever you want. But as I always said, or meant to, I'm sure there was a reason they did what they have. I just personally don't like it :)

Cool about the first person files...I'll be looking into that...eventually :)

[BuSyMan]

Well the link at the bottom of the page just takes you back to the top... so WTF?

[supersayian313]

hey new to this awesome site. first off i want to say WOW! there are some talented people on this site. ive have been downloading the ps3 mods of ut3. thet are great. i am wondering if there is a list of character mods for ps3 version. i have the bender mod (it sucks about the head problem with ps3) and i want to get more custom stuff. thanks.

[geodav]

Well the link at the bottom of the page just takes you back to the top... so WTF?

give it 24/48 hours is what they told me :( but it will be there soon

[AnubanUT2]

hey new to this awesome site. first off i want to say WOW! there are some talented people on this site. ive have been downloading the ps3 mods of ut3. thet are great. i am wondering if there is a list of character mods for ps3 version. i have the bender mod (it sucks about the head problem with ps3) and i want to get more custom stuff. thanks.

Wrong thread ... this one is a development thread for the modders ... try this one:

http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=599298

[EvilEngine]

give it 24/48 hours is what they told me :( but it will be there soon

I know I am gonna be watching that section throughout the night. :)

[UX_Loki]

How to create a separate command?

[Showster]

fps rig is up there http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/rsrc/Three/UT3Mods/SK_WP_1P_Arm_Bones.max

[Davision]

Its only the bones, there is no mesh to see how it was done. I dont know why but you need the colladamax plugin to open it. It can be found here: http://www.feelingsoftware.com/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,80/lang,en/

[BuSyMan]

Here's a link to the Collada plugins Max&Maya:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=136478

[kevinmv]

Any luck converting this to Maya? I'm not having any luck. I am just getting locators with no animation, or empty nodes using FBX and DAE.

[EvilEngine]

I'd like to know if anyone has successfully rigged the meshes to the bones/joints yet?
I keep running into a variety of issues , for example the envelopes are in completly different areas than where they should be.

[Davision]

You could paint the weights instead of using the envelopes and select the vertices and setup the weight values. I barely used envelopes for my character rigs.
I didnt tryed to make a arm yet. What else issues you have?

[Shakeno]

I just stop visiting this for 2 or 3 days and I see major changes and the thread growing 3 pages! O.o

I am going to try right now about the first person arms... wish me some luck!

(After 10 minutes trying) Bleargh! Can't get it to work fine! Pain!

[Mandinga]

My frustration has reached new heights.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/Mandinga/glow.jpg

the glow doesn't go away. and the neck still stretches. Not sure how to mod the family code.

Would anyone be willing to download my files and check em to see just what the heck is wrong with em? If so PM me. Work has eaten 90% of my time :P.

[EvilEngine]

You could paint the weights instead of using the envelopes and select the vertices and setup the weight values. I barely used envelopes for my character rigs.
I didnt tryed to make a arm yet. What else issues you have?

You can ignore me now, I got the arms to work. I usually paint the weights too, but the envelopes are usually in the same area of the bones or joints, but these are in weird places. Anyhow, things look decent so the best suggestion is all you guys to paint the weights and ignore where the envelopes are located or you will get confused. Also I noticed the third finger bone(the one at the tip) distorts your characters fingers badly, so rig the tips to the second finger bone and things will look good.
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=25311659#post25311659

[geodav]

@Mandinga pm me a link and i'll have a look

[BuSyMan]

So it's just the envelopes being misplaced, eh? Guess the problem wasn't that big :rolleyes:

[Mandinga]

@Mandinga pm me a link and i'll have a look

Sent Geodav.

All: that envelope issue is a tad odd. Seems like epic did a ghetto conversion for the hand rig. envelopes in odd places is a symptom of crappy exportation.

[Alcor43]

When I first tried to skin my arms to the bones, 2 things happened, first the envelope were offsetted like many of you, second one of my arm moved away, well half of the vertices of one arm went completely off. Tried to reset the x form, same thing. So then I tried to Physique rather than Skin the arms and it worked perfectly :)

Remember, initialize with Rigid - Noblending. Then use only rigid (green) vertices association and assign weight once they are locked. Worked the first time I tried.

[Alcor43]

About the glowing issue many of you are having, I think I may know what's happenning. You see I've been working as a shader artist on Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 for almost 3 years now, so I know how to handle shaders. One thing we tried hard to maintain was keeping artist from using white in their textures.

In Unreal engine 3, whenever you use white, it glows. If you DO want something to look white, use gray 192 as the palest color on your texture and it will come out white.

So anyone of you who's having the glowing issue, try adding a level adjustment layer on top of your diffuse in Photoshop, and clamp the whitest color to 192. It should come out just right.

Gilbert

[Discmage]

Hey, was just wondering as this is pretty much the only real 'community' I am part of and was interested to know...are any of you entering the Dominance War competition? I'm thinking about it but I haven't nailed a good enough concept in my head to justify it...and the deadline would be kind of tight...although a good 'exercise' in modeling to a deadline etc.

[Mandinga]

Hey, was just wondering as this is pretty much the only real 'community' I am part of and was interested to know...are any of you entering the Dominance War competition? I'm thinking about it but I haven't nailed a good enough concept in my head to justify it...and the deadline would be kind of tight...although a good 'exercise' in modeling to a deadline etc.

Probly won't make it in time, too many bugs to sort aside from life issues.

[Mandinga]

One question about shaders.

after trying to fix textures is photoshop, and following plenty of suggestions (darken colors, switching default UT3 parent mats, custom family) Not sure what else to try.

I'm using the default twinsouls mat. I've made blue and red skins and they glow blue and red, just as bad as the white version I've showed on this forum.

Here is the lowdown. I'm using a diffuse, specular and normal map for my mat (the rest of the slots are place holders). Any possibility that I need to plug something else in to fix this issue?

thanks guys

[Discmage]

as a test perhaps make the red SUPER dark red and SUPER dark blue. Like, near black even. And just see if that makes any difference at all.

If that doesn't do anything then make your specular a black colour and put that in. I find when I get to this stage in a process its trial and error of extremes. If you have tried all these things I really have no idea...although I still recomend moving away from the twinsouls base material.

[Mandinga]

as a test perhaps make the red SUPER dark red and SUPER dark blue. Like, near black even. And just see if that makes any difference at all.

If that doesn't do anything then make your specular a black colour and put that in. I find when I get to this stage in a process its trial and error of extremes. If you have tried all these things I really have no idea...although I still recomend moving away from the twinsouls base material.


gonna have to try moving away from the twinsouls mat. All the other suggestions didn't work Dicsimage.

Thanks

[Slyrr]

I use Max 8. I downloaded the files containing the MALE and KRALL models, but they won't open. It says it's missing some dll files or something probably related to Max 9 or some higher version of Max.

While waiting for Epic to release some custom character creation tutorials for UE 3 (comparable to the free character creation tutorials they have for UE 2.5), I'd really like to fiddle around with the models the template models they released, and maybe get a start on learning how to export properly and/or set up a custom skeleton and mesh properly.

Does anyone know if there's a Max8 version that can be opened and used? All I could find were the ones that don't open in Max8....

So far the tutorial pool for custom character exporting and importing to UED 3 is scanty to say the least. I hoped that Epic would step up with that....

[geodav]

the epic models are for max 9 and higher, what you can try is to dl max2008 trial and export the models via fbx or have a rad of this thread http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=594801

[Bitter-Pill]

Hey, was just wondering as this is pretty much the only real 'community' I am part of and was interested to know...are any of you entering the Dominance War competition? I'm thinking about it but I haven't nailed a good enough concept in my head to justify it...and the deadline would be kind of tight...although a good 'exercise' in modeling to a deadline etc.

I'm entered in it. Here's my model's wip thread. http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=234&t=609823

[Camurai]

gonna have to try moving away from the twinsouls mat. All the other suggestions didn't work Dicsimage.

Thanks

I had this same Glow problem and got it fixed but I had tried a few things at once so I'm not sure exactly what fixed it.

Try creating alpha channels for the specular and Emissive textures. (I beleive the game was taking the alpha of the emissive instead of the rbg values...meaning that the entire texture gets a solid glow) Same seems to be true for the specular, making your character fully shiny all over.

If you don't have an Emmissive texture applied try plugging in a blank one (solid black with an alpha channel set so nothing is visible)

[BuSyMan]

@ Bitter-Pill: Your character looks like a Yoda - Tusken Raider (aka sand people) combination :p

[Bitter-Pill]

@ Bitter-Pill: Your character looks like a Yoda - Tusken Raider (aka sand people) combination :p

While I do want it to look like something that could be in Star Wars, I think the final level of detail will make it its own thing. ;)

[Mandinga]

I had this same Glow problem and got it fixed but I had tried a few things at once so I'm not sure exactly what fixed it.

Try creating alpha channels for the specular and Emissive textures. (I beleive the game was taking the alpha of the emissive instead of the rbg values...meaning that the entire texture gets a solid glow) Same seems to be true for the specular, making your character fully shiny all over.

If you don't have an Emmissive texture applied try plugging in a blank one (solid black with an alpha channel set so nothing is visible)

Gonna give it whirl, I have diffuse, normal and specular maps applied. The rest are all black place holders.

On another note, anyone tried to cook their models for the PS3, Not sure if they corrected the Replacing head issue. Saw some hype about it in the ps3 patch thread.

Any leads?

[AnubanUT2]

^^^ Yes PS3 models work well (so far at least ... the head issue is solved to be more direct) ... they just do not support custom sounds or custom gibs.

[Discmage]

Thought I'd take this opportunity to post my latest WIP of my marine. still has a bit of work to go (super fine detail around legs and arms, 'roughing up' the torso and pelvic normal map and colouring it properly)...but its getting there :)

Looks pretty good in game though I reckon!

http://www.neomagination.com/Downloads/InGame_01.jpg

[geodav]

Hey Disc, nice one mate, its starting to look really good :)

[BuSyMan]

Looks cool Discmage... a reflection on the visor would be neat, though... Are you planning on releasing him?
_________

So what is the maximum polycount you can use? I noticed that if it's over 14k, the mesh will look OK in the editor & char selection screen, but ingame it will have a lot of missing elements. I'd like to know a pretty accurate value if possible :D
Also, does that apply to each part or the whole character?

[geodav]

to be honest i would keep the total poly count to about 10k, if you look at the Reaper model you'll notice that the head is 4k on its own, personally i go for max 6k for a normal character and upto 9k for the main hero

[Discmage]

I don't think there is an actual limit to what you throw in a character/scene...that depends on the computer running it, however I'd keep to 10K as a total character limit...although I find that going a little over is fair enough...if its worth it. I find it interesting looking at some peoples characters and realise how many polygons they are wasting on unneeded detail, detail that would look fine as a normal map or hidden polys that are never seen (they still count though I believe). So make sure you are using every polygon wisely and it should be good.

The way I like to think about it is the silhouette. The detail you need to see around the edges is what needs to be modeled...well, its a start anyway :)

The other thing to think about is closeups. Epic seem to have 2 versions of some of the characters. Cinematic and game. The cinematics are MUCH higher as there are limited characters in a set cinematic and there is also a lot of closeups generally. So with cinemativcs it all depends on what you intend on having in a scene at any given time.

Thanks for the praise guys, I'm pretty happy with it so far. I will be adding a lot of reflection if I can figure it out. The SC2 marine in the cinematic is particularly reflective...The Blue is too shiny in my version so far, it needs to be more reflective instead i think.

I will eventually be releasing it I assume. But I will probably be doing that after I make the first person hands and team colours. I won't make custom sounds or gibs though. I really couldn't be bothered and want to move onto other projects.

[BuSyMan]

Well the model I'm working with (not made by me) has 46k-60k polys per bodypart. He's body isn't really unitary, he has a lot of pipes, cylinders, cables behind his chestplate (normal maps=out of the question, lots of seams) and if I were to overuse the MultiRes modifier and go for 4k-7k polys he'd look like crap. Adding Smooth only makes him look even crappier.
That's the reason I was asking about it...

@Discmage: Too bad about the voice pack... the marine really had some neat lines. :(

[Discmage]

that many polies is insane. That would be the high poly base you would use to apply to a low poly base.

If the cables are behind his chestplate then there is no need for actual polygons at all. Unless the cables would affect the silhouette of the character (my marines pelvic region for example) then you could get away with maps probably. I would have to see the character to be more specific though.

One method would be to have one or two pipes at the front, and then the rest as normal maps in the back giving the feeling there is more depth. I doubt you would need to though.

Any pipe can potentially be a 3 sided pipe or maybe a 4 sided. I think you can get away with a lot if you are good at texturing normal maps. Either way I can guarantee you could get ANY generic game character down to under 15k at most. Especially if its for in game. a cinematic on the other hand might need more.

[Discmage]

Has anyone managed to get team colours to work? I've got the colours in there, I'm pretty sure they are labeled correctly...but its not working. Is there something more than labeling the textures and MIC's correctly to team colours? I was using Evil Engines tutorials.

I'm going to release the marine as beta as soon as I find a good hosting site. Know of any?

[BuSyMan]

Same problem with teamskins, although they worked before on Epic's materials...

As for hosting I recommend http://www.filefront.com/

[Discmage]

Well I have done what I can for the marine so far and have put it up for all to see in my Beta thread.

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=607923

Feel free to give it a whirl and tell me what you think. The only main thing I want to fix is team colours. So if anyone can find a good tutorial on that...or more importantly possible reasons why it wouldn't be working (I'm sre I have it set up properly) then I will look at that with an update.

Now I'll be moving onto things COMPLETELY different for a while...hopefully staying away from the actual editor as my patience has run pretty thin with the trial and error system we seem to be forced to endure regarding characters. If it wasn't for the hard work of those like Geodav, Evil Engine and others I would have shelved this engine months ago.

[AnubanUT2]

Feel free to give it a whirl and tell me what you think. The only main thing I want to fix is team colours. So if anyone can find a good tutorial on that...or more importantly possible reasons why it wouldn't be working (I'm sre I have it set up properly) then I will look at that with an update.



Sign up at EE site ... he has a tutorial on team colors and I think it will help you. BTW that is a pretty ominous looking model ... I am looking forward to the final version especially. :)

[Discmage]

I did, but it still doesn't work. Can't figure out why...same old thing though. COuld be anything!

[Discmage]

OK, so here's an interesting question for you guys! :) Is there any way you could modify the positioning of a body part with script (.ini or .u I guess) of a custom character rather than edit the original package file?

I have just tested putting the default epic characters onto my marine as a head (so I could make an open visor version) but the head is too high. I know I could save out all the heads and move them on the Z value but that would raise my download size considerably (although I must admit they wouldn't need the textures...so it might not be THAT big)

So does anyone know if this is possible, and if so how to go about it?

[AnubanUT2]

^^ Did you ask Alcor about team colors ... his work just fine for his new model. I'm sure he'd be glad to help you out.

[Alcor43]

Discmage, I looked at your character and the team skins seem to be setuped properly. The only thing I can find that may not help is that you didn't define your "BaseMICParent=" in your family class.

Maybe it's required for the team skins to work, not sure though.

[Discmage]

hmmm, thanks for looking at it. Much appreciated. Everytime I setup the teamskins to Iron guard it seems to make the meshes irongaurd or other random ones rather than use my model. so its a little odd all up. At the moment (on my PC at least, I have taken the reference to the base materials out completely. Iron Guard materials seem to work ok (no glow etc)

So in the end...no idea!

[Discmage]

RanShak over on my beta thread has cooked my marine and oddly enough the red team works on the arms and legs, but not the torso. Yet not at all on the PC. Go figure!

So ata bit of a loss even where to start in regards to looking for problems. I assume maybe it is the fact that there are no base materials set in the .u...as I wanted the defaults to be used...I dunno.probably look over the whole thing again in the next couple of days.

[BuSyMan]

Don't know if it was anything to do with teamskins, but I get the following warning messages when I compile my character family script, although it successfully compiles and the materials show up ingame:

http://www.zimagez.com/miniature/compilewarning.jpg (http://www.zimagez.com/zimage/compilewarning.php)

[Discmage]

as in the teamskinswork for you?

OK, well I have had those warnings before and tried to get rid of them...where did you get your material base from? I think I have to go over my character again, I tweaked a few things and I:ve lost track of where its at!

[BuSyMan]

Yeah teams skins for me ... they don't work :mad:
I took EvilEngine's Nanosuit material and edited it a bit so reflections could work...for my Terminator model. If you wanna check it out, I uploaded it here at EE's request: http://files.filefront.com/ReflectionMaterialzip/;9930124;/fileinfo.html

[Discmage]

Sweet, I might look into that. I wouldn't mind some reflection on my character too...but as I figured out how to get the Iron guard base material working reasonably I thought I'd leave it at that. I might see what I can do in regards to reverse engineering this or something...*shrugs*

[BuSyMan]

Ok... just remember that in the state that it's in it applies the reflection to the whole mesh... but I think that using "LinearInterpolate" (LERP) instead of "Add" and connecting it to an alpha channel that defines the region that needs reflections would work...
Testing now actually :D

Edit: Worked... I connected the alpha from LERP to the alpha channel of the Diffuse and it worked... only showed up where the alpha channel was defined... you could use this for reflections on the visor :D

P.S. Forgot to mention that it has:

[...] togglability in StaticSwitchParameterValues, a slot for cubemaps in TextureParameterValues and a multiplier in VectorParameterValues [...]

[Discmage]

Um...what?! :)

So I assume this is in the base material information...I have watched the materials tutorials on the collectors edition...so maybe I will try and sort that out. I think you are right in its use, although I think i will put a little bit of reflection on the body, with a lot on the visor. That seems to be the way it is on the actual marine. If it works I reckon my marine will look all the sweeter...so thanks for that.

[geodav]

i think your errors are coming from the fact it can't find the package, i sorted that problem by haveing a copy of the package in both Published and Unpubished folders

[Discmage]

hmmm...ok...weird. will look into that also...if my screen lasts. Its just now going loopy.